Spoiler alert: This article contains major reveals from the season finale of Notorious. Unlike that headstrong Julia George, you might want to proceed with caution.

Thursday’s Notorious season finale ended on a surprisingly high note, with Jake & Co. liberating Julia from El Toro and returning to Los Angeles in one piece — until the episode’s final moments, when we learned that Maya Hart has (presumably) committed suicide.

“We had a big role for Melina Kanakaredes [as Maya’s mother Dana] in the next episode; she’ll be crucial if the show gets picked up [for a second season],” showrunner Josh Berman tells TVLine. “Basically, everything you think you know about that character, you really don’t. … It turns the entire story on its head.”

Below, Berman answers all of our burning questions from Thursday’s finale, then offers a glimpse into the series’ hypothetical future:

TVLINE | OK, let’s start with Julia: How might she emerge from this ordeal a different person?
I imagine that anytime one gets kidnapped, their priorities get reevaluated. On the way back, that moment when she puts her head on Jake’s shoulder and he kisses her hand … as much as they haven’t given into their feelings for each other, because work has always come first, I think Julia’s experience has obviously brought them closer together.

TVLINE | I know Julia and Jake are based on real-life people who claim they were never romantic, but was there ever talk of getting them together?
If they physically consummate their feelings, it would fundamentally change the series. I worked on Bones for four seasons, and there was always the question about when Booth and Brennan were going to hook up. We knew that would change the show forever, and it did. I don’t think we ever thought Jake and Julia would get together in Season 1.

TVLINE | Julia got to flex her interviewing muscles, albeit unwillingly, this week. Any chance she’ll be doing more of that?
The character of Julia George — and I’ve talked about this at length with Piper Perabo — loves being the boss. In media, even though the people in front of the camera are the faces of the news, the ones behind the camera are making the news. She’s right where she wants to be. She never wants to be the face of a story.

TVLINE | We just met Avery, but I already hate her. Will she, hypothetically, remain a thorn in Megan’s side?
Hypothetically, yes. There was actually a scene cut from the finale that showed some sparks between Avery and Megan. It’s a storyline we’ll save for the future, fingers crossed.

TVLINE | Wait, like, romantic sparks? Or just tension?
Shockingly, romantic sparks. We’ve never delved into Megan’s backstory, so we don’t know what her sexuality is. There was great chemistry between those two ladies on the set, so we were going to use Avery as a way of going into Megan’s past.

TVLINE | I guess I should have asked this first: Is there hope for more episodes?
There’s absolutely hope for more episodes. ABC is paying to keep our sets, as opposed to striking them, which is obviously a costly endeavor. So that’s always a good sign. Our audience has stuck around from the beginning, but Thursday is a tough night.

TVLINE | And now [network president] Darin is out of a job. Do you envision the team rallying to get him back?
Actually, if we do come back, there’s a whole storyline we hope to tell where he gets hired at a competing network, which would put his son [Ryan] in a compromising position.

TVLINE | Was there anything else you had planned for those last three episodes before the order was cut down to 10?
The last few episodes were really going to dig into Jake’s past; we were going to meet both his adoptive parents and his biological parents. We had people in mind, and Daniel [Sunjata] was really excited about doing it.

Are you pulling for a second season of Notorious? Grade the finale below, then drop a comment with your full review.